Author: IRC | rescue.org | 25 September 2020
Asylum seekers living at Moria, the reception and identification center (RIC) on the Greek island of Lesvos, are under enormous mental strain. With no choice but to live in unacceptable conditions, with little concrete information about their futures and long waits to have their asylum claims heard, suicide rates among IRC clients are astonishingly high: thirty percent of our clients have attempted suicide. Sixty percent have considered attempting suicide. The majority of those at Moria are refugees from Syria, Iraq and Afghanistan. They have fled war and many have endured horrific trauma, both in their homes, and on their journey to Europe. Conditions at Moria exacerbate that trauma. The International Rescue Committee (IRC) runs a mental health and psychosocial support centre in Mytilene, the capital of Lesvos, to provide services to some of the residents of Moria.